No One Ever Told Us That: Money and Life Lessons for Young Adults

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

PROVOCATIVE HEADINGS

Some days I get hundreds of e-mails. Don't assume, as many of you do, that your texts, e-mails, or tweets will be read anytime soon. Of the hundreds of e-mails I get, virtually none of them are business related, and almost none of them are spam. Most of them want something from me: advice, favors, or money. Many of these I delete automatically, trying to weed out the nonessential from the important. Some days there are so many that I can't face them and let them roll on, not looking. Often it is difficult to run a day-to-day business with so many intrusions popping up. And I think they do add to the feelings of anxiety I see in so many people. It occurs to me that other people, people I'm reaching out to, also have this problem. So I make sure that the subject or heading line is provocative and very different from the usual boring, vanilla subject that most people offer to you. I want people to read and answer my e-mail. If you are boring and unimaginative, I'm likely to never even open your message.

I know I harp on the theme of daring to be different. But how else do we differentiate ourselves from others so that they pay attention to us? We have to learn to approach life in ways that may be different from those of others and that make people smile or say, “Hmmm.” For instance, one heading I use for e-mails is often “Your brilliant future.” This makes people want to open my message, because the heading is something that surprises them. ...